The Civil Guard has arrested the former honorary consul of Finland, the businessman Albert Ginjaume, in Barcelona for his alleged relationship with a drug trafficking organization that operated from different countries to introduce khat into the European Union, a drug that is obtained from a bush -it comes from from Africa- with stimulant and hallucinogenic properties.
In the operation, the Armed Institute has seized 3.2 tons of drugs in the Port of Barcelona. The substance would have exceeded 60 million euros on the black market. According to the investigators, Ginjaume would be one of the members of the organization, while the rest have not yet been located, according to Efe.
It was in February 2018 when Finland dismissed the businessman from his position as honorary consul at the request of the Spanish Government, for having carried out “inappropriate activities, related to the political situation in Catalonia”, that is, for his winks favorable to the process independentist.
His dismissal, after almost two decades in office, came after several previous notices from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before his demonstrations.
The investigations began at the beginning of the year, during a police operation in France, when the agents obtained information about the possible storage of khat in the Port of Barcelona.
To transport the drug, the criminal organization used a compendium of three related business companies and also customs specialists.
In order to evade inspection controls, they falsified customs declarations in such a way that the risk analysis capacity for this type of product was expressly annulled.
This operation and the seizure of such an important quantity of this type of substance – catonines – represents the largest consignment seized in Europe to date. The seizure has been possible thanks to the collaboration with the Health Functional Area of the Government Delegation of Catalonia, the Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Sciences of Barcelona, as well as with the Customs Administration of both the port and the airport of Barcelona.